Archive for April, 2011

To kick off the rafting season, I thought we should have a bit of fun. Last year we took over 31,000 pictures on our daily Badger Run rafting trips! Over 31,000 pictures! Each day after the rafts come back after an amazing day on the river it is my job to build picture and video DVD’s for the rafters, so over the course of the summer I spend a lot of time looking at rafting pictures.

After combing through the 31,000 pictures, there are a few that come to mind as being my favourites for one reason or another. Keep in mind that these are not necessarily the “best”, they just happen to be my personal favourites. To have a bit of fun I’ve put together a collection of my favourite rafting pictures from 2010 and built a bit of a contest around it to get our Facebook followers involved as well. I’ll be publishing a new Top 30 rafting picture to our Facebook page every day starting with May 2. On June 15th all the people who have been tagged in our Top 30 pictures as well as everyone that has left comments or “Likes” will be entered into a draw for one of two FREE RAFTING TRIPS!

So if you or one of your friends appear in one of our Top 30 pictures TAG them! If you see something you like, click the “Like” button, or leave a comment. It’s that easy to enter the draw! Good luck to everyone!

Well I though for I would likely be reporting grim news today about the conditions into Hodges after the weather this week. However I was pleasantly surprised with the conditions! The above photo was taken yestyerday at Hodges Pass. Spring is obviously on the way at the lower elevations but in around Hodges there is still plenty snow. Although there is no snow on the top the highest shoulder is still accessible and there is plenty snow on the trails and in the woods. Tours for this weekend are a go! We have one chalet available for Saturday as of this morning but it will likely book today so call grab it soon if you want to come out. Talk your sleds!

Had a great weekend snowmobiling this past weekend. Snow? The pictures speak for themselves. We headed to Hodges on Friday for some hill climbing where the snow on the hill was plenty but pretty hard as it was near zero degrees. Still for all we had a few sleds stuck climbing the slopes. It was the Gaff for Saturday. Unfortunately South Brook was out so we had to run up the tracks from Dawes Pond Road. The going was pretty good so we were able to travel pretty fast all the way up to the Gaff. It was a little picky getting up there once we hit the open country but the amount of snow past the Quarry was amazing. In fact I don’t the Gaff has lost much snow at all. If you look at a couple older posts from this season, above the pics of the same cabin are not much different than they are now. The snow is still up to the eve! This is the time to be on the Gaff, only for the going to be comfortable it needs to be warm. At least 15 degrees would be best! As for this weekend and Hodges, I will be taking a run in tomorrow and provide an update as we did have it fairly warm this past couple days. I will keep you posted.

Just a quick update to inform those of you already booked or thinking about it. This picture was taken about 4 km from the chalets in Cornfield road. There is about two feet of snow on the road but I haven’t even gained much elevation at this point. From here on in the snow depth will build steadily. I’d say there is at least 4 feet of snow in the backcountry yet. I checked the ice this morning and there is loads…just stay away from the entries of brooks. We still have some availability on weekends and lots on the weekdays. Please check the availability calender on our website. I see no reason why there won’t be plenty snow next weekend as well (and maybe even beyond). I would like to remind you that if you book in for snowmobiling, conditions deterioate and you cancel, you will be entitled for a full refund. Even if the snow disappears it is a beautiful time of year here. This morning I was chatting with some clients on the chalet deck while watching rabbits browsing all around us. Even a partridge as white as the snow walked across the veranda. We have a tours to the Gaff and Hodges this weekend so I will be posting more updated pictures on Monday.

A quick note to keep you updated on the current snow conditions. We still have lots….same as the last post except for its hard in the mornings but softens up when the sun comes up. The good about morning runs is that you can go absolutely anywhere. We have been sledding everyday. 200km at the Gaff yesterday where the amount of snow is unbelievable! Some of the cabins are still nearly buried. The going was pretty good as you could cruise along 40 – 50 kms easily. A foot of powder to top it off or a warmer day would be better. Today we went hill climbing again into Hogdges. We waited until lunch time before heading in. Not sure what the temp was but I wearing a thin shirt under my teck vest all day and was very comfortable. With the snow softened up the going was excellent! Please see the posted pics below which I took today. We have a few warm days starting tomorrow but I don’t think it will effect us much as there is so much snow left, but will keep you updated. To deal with the rumors on the East Coast about the snow conditions here in Central (which we are known to have none) we have mounted an additional sign on our premises highway sign. It says “CURRENT SNOW CONDITIONS”. Below this sign I have a slot in which to place one of three signs which read “EXCELLENT, GOOD or POOR”. This I guarantee to be accurate so if your friend is driving by please ask him to refer to the posted conditions, not the sight of (or lack there-of) snow on the the highway. Right now I have posted “EXCELLENT”.

Just to note to everyone about the curent conditions here. As you can see from the photo they are awesome! This is taken on the slope of Hodges heading into Hodges Pass (Jonathon Simon on a Dragon 700). We have the Sledworthy crew coming out this weekend for some extreme hill climbing. The plan is to navigate completly around Hodges at the 1200 – 1400 ft elevation level….we accomplished most of this yesterday and had an absolute blast. The entire trip is steep hill climbing and decents as we pass through nicely spaced and large trees. I can’t remember ever having more fun on a sled! It will likely be an extreme climbing tour for next year. Check out the Sledworthy site for pic and vids of yesterdays trip. We only have one chalet open for this weekend starting on Saturday and on.